Hey God, What Do You Have Against Me?

When God Questions Our Worship: A Journey Through Ancient Israel's Mirror

There's something unsettling about looking in a mirror and seeing ourselves clearly. Even more unsettling is when God holds up that mirror and shows us the gap between who we think we are and who we actually are in our worship of Him.

The book of Malachi—that often-overlooked final chapter of the Old Testament—serves as exactly this kind of mirror. For 400 years after Malachi's message, God would go silent. His last words before that silence? A confrontation with His people about the quality of their devotion.

The Love That Won't Let Go

God opens His message with a declaration: "I have loved you."

It's emphatic. Direct. Unmistakable.

Yet the people's response reveals everything wrong with their relationship: "How have you loved us?"

They questioned the very foundation of their covenant. God had chosen Israel not because they were numerous or powerful—they were actually the smallest of nations. He chose them because He wanted to. He made promises to their ancestors and kept every single one. While He allowed Edom to be destroyed, Israel remained. The evidence of His love surrounded them, yet they couldn't see it.

How often do we fall into the same trap? We demand proof of God's love while standing in the shadow of the cross. Romans 5:8 settles the question forever: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God's unconditional love is both sovereign and just. His election is purposeful. His promises stand firm.

The Offering That Insults

But love demands a response, and Israel's response had become insulting.

God confronted the priests directly: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor?"

The answer was devastating. They were offering blind, lame, and sick animals as sacrifices—the leftovers, the second-rate, the expendable. God asked them a piercing question: "Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor?"

Of course not. No earthly ruler would tolerate such disrespect.

Why did they expect God to?

The truth is, before God ever accepts our gifts, He inspects our hearts. The value of any offering is determined by the heart of the one offering it. Before we give anything to God, we must give ourselves to Him completely.

There's a powerful story from Africa about a young believer attending church shortly after her baptism. When the offering plate came to her, she had no money. She was living in poverty with nothing to give. So she placed the plate on the ground, stepped into it, and declared out loud: "God, I don't have any money, but you can have all of me."

That was worship.

The Weariness of Empty Ritual

"What a weariness this is," the people said about their religious duties.

They had reduced worship to checking boxes. The sacrificial system had become tedious, monotonous, burdensome. They snorted at it—a gesture of contempt and dismissal.

Listless actions always stem from an apathetic attitude. When worship becomes tedious, when rituals feel monotonous, the root is always apathy toward God Himself.

We're not immune to this today. "I have to go to church this morning." "I need to make sure I get this done, check that off." We can be physically present while mentally and spiritually absent, going through motions that mean nothing.

God's response was shocking: "Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain!"

God would rather we close the church doors than offer Him worthless worship.

The Broken Community

Israel's broken relationship with God manifested in broken relationships with each other. They were faithless to one another, profaning the covenant. Family turned on family. Infighting consumed them.

"Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another?"

They were committing abominations—murder, adultery, false oaths, oppression of workers and widows—and then coming to the temple saying, "We are delivered!" as if salvation gave them license to continue in sin.

Paul would later address this same attitude: "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!"

Any time we put anything in front of God—money, fame, success, even good things like family or hobbies—we create false idols. The first commandment remains: "You shall have no other gods before me."

The Question of Justice

"You have wearied the Lord with your words," God declared.

"How have we wearied Him?" they asked.

"By saying, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them.' Or by asking, 'Where is the God of justice?'"

The people were impatient with rampant immorality and political corruption. They questioned why God allowed evil to prosper. Sound familiar?

But God promised vindication. He spoke of a messenger who would prepare the way—John the Baptist—and of the Messenger of the Covenant who would bring refining fire—Jesus Christ.

This refining fire isn't about destruction but purification. Like precious metals heated until the impurities rise to the surface and can be skimmed away, God purifies His people. It's a painful process, but pain and suffering are God's divine instruments for molding us into the image of Christ.

He disciplines those He loves.

The Robbery We Commit

"Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me."

"How have we robbed you?"

"In your tithes and contributions."

God offered a roadmap to reconciliation: "Return to me, and I will return to you."

But this wasn't just about money. It was about priority, trust, and obedience. God challenged them to test Him: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse... and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need."

The Fear That Changes Everything

Finally, God divided the people into two groups.

The first group said, "It is vain to serve God. What is the profit?" They served out of religious obligation, wondering what they'd get in return. They had a transactional mentality—I'll do this if You do that.

But the second group feared the Lord and spoke with one another about Him. God paid attention and heard them. He recorded their righteous acts in a book of remembrance.

This fear isn't terror or phobia. It's reverential awe—a deep respect for a holy and righteous God who can bless abundantly but also discipline justly.

For those who fear His name, God promised: "The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall."

The Treasure Question

A.W. Tozer wrote, "The man who has God for his treasure has all things in one."

So the question confronting us today is simple but profound: Is God your treasure?

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Where is your heart?

God assured us of His love by sending His most esteemed treasure—Jesus Christ—to die on our behalf. Christ responded to His Father perfectly with the fear of the Lord. We are called to emulate Him.

The Lord's book does not forget. Through Christ, we don't have to live in fear of condemnation. When we see God as our ultimate treasure, we taste and see that the Lord is good.

And His mercy endures forever.